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Jackie Chan might be known for Chinese kung fu classics and Hollywood action comedies, but what he's really itching for is a bit of serious drama.

Chan, who started out as a child performer, says despite his more than 200 movie appearances, he's yearning to stretch out as an actor — and perhaps even make a musical.

"I want to show the audience I not only can fight, do stunts, also I'm a pretty good actor," the Chinese action icon and filmmaker told CBC News on Thursday.

"I can do Rush Hour. I can do Legend of Drunken Master. I can do Karate Kid. Then I come back to do [Chinese Zodiac]. Then I go back and maybe I do Sound of Music."

The star of Hollywood hits Rush Hour,Shanghai Noon and the forthcoming Chinese Zodiac is on a brief visit to Toronto to introduce screenings of his Chinese-language classics Police Story and Drunken Master, featured on the lineup of TIFF's Century of Chinese Cinema summer program.

In the video above, Chan talks to CBC's Jessica Wong about honouring cinema of the past, advice for filmmakers eager to access the Chinese market, which actors he admires and potentially sharing the screen with Sly Stallone.